© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – the circular house of relic (Vatadage), Polonnaruwa, SRI LANKA

Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka’s splendid medieval capital was established as the first city of the land in the 11th Century, A.D. It replaced Anuradhapura that was plundered, made desolate, and laid hopelessly bare to the invading armies from South India.

Polonnaruwa reached a dazzling, but pitifully brief zenith, in the 12th century and though like Anuradhapura, where it was ravaged by invasions in the preceding centuries, there is much evidence and remains of the old grandeur and glory. The ruins of Polonnaruwa sits on the east shore of a large artificial lake, the Topa Wewa Lake or Parakrama Samudra (the Sea of Parakrama); created by King Parakramabahu I (1153-86) who reign during Polonnaruwa’s golden age.

Within the city’s rectangular walls stands palace buildings, a bath area and clusters of dozens of dagobas, temples, various other religious buildings and a monk sanctuary that stretches for miles. The centerpiece – the Dalada Maluwa (the hall of the Tooth Relic) contains 12 magnificent buildings in a sacred precinct. The most famous of the ruins, if not the most most famous vatadage (circular house of relic) across Sri Lanka is the Vatadage in Polonnaruwa, with four Buddha images facing the cardinal directions circling around the centerpiece stupa. Evidence of the Buddhas being created out of white marble and one covered with gold leaf is still mildly visible.

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